


Hockey, Weather

by bestliars



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Gen, Houston Aeros, M/M, Minnesota Wild, Non-Standard Formatting, Weather, playoff hockey
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-02
Updated: 2013-06-02
Packaged: 2017-12-13 16:53:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/826594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bestliars/pseuds/bestliars
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s May in Minnesota and everything is either Hockey or Weather.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hockey, Weather

This is not the story.

If you want to read the story without any commentary you can [go here](http://www.mediafire.com/view/kuplu3p5r46vf5m/hockey_%2B_weather.pdf), or you can continue on to read the commentary/explanation first.

This story is an experiment in form. It was inspired by the 12th chapter of _A Visit From the Goon Squad_ by Jennifer Egan, which is presented entirely as a powerpoint presentation. This chapter is available to [read here](http://jenniferegan.com/books), and I can’t recommend it enough. I read this novel last year, and loved it. This chapter was assigned for a class this spring, and it made me really want to try writing a story in powerpoint. I had an idea that wouldn’t go away, about Marco Scandella, and the weather, and the Wild’s playoffs. I decided to tell this story through slides. It might be the piece of fic I’ve had the most fun writing. At the start of this I did not have much experience using google presentation, now I think I’m pretty awesome with it. I wrote this pretty much in order as it happened, and you can probably see my skills improving as it goes on.

If you feel like you have enough context you can[ go read the story now](http://www.mediafire.com/view/kuplu3p5r46vf5m/hockey_%2B_weather.pdf), or you can keep on reading my notes, though I should warn you that the next parts talk about the plot of the story, and could be considered spoilers, as much as there can be spoilers for a story based on things that actually happened and made the news.

I started jotting down notes for a story I didn't want to write, about Marco Scandella and the beautiful weather. I had ideas for this story, but I knew it wasn't something I needed to write, because I've written gen fic about Scandella and the weather before, and that story is not super great. I learned something from the experience, it made me pay attention to my writing in a new way, but the main thing I learned was that it isn’t necessary to write all the stories I tell myself. There wasn't any reason for that story to exist. But for whatever reason, today I found myself brainstorming on a neon pink piece of paper, and I realized that I had all of these feelings about Marco Scandella and the weather, and that it might be a good idea to channel these feelings into something instead of carrying them around inside me.

I was thinking about the narrative possibilities of the situation, and realized there basically were none. The only thing there was hockey, playoff hockey, monomaniacal hockey, which sacrifices romance and relationships and sex and basically anything that we write stories about.

All I had left was hockey and weather and Marco Scandella, who, at this point, I should admit, might be less a character based on a real person than one rooted in my obsessive tendencies. I get to write weird little stories about Marco Scandella because no one else cares about him, which is kind of how I like it, except for not really, because I want him to be better, and if that happens other people will start caring, and maybe they'll start reading my weird little stories, and maybe they'll even internalize my off-kilter characterization, but that's a worry for another never.

Hockey, Weather, and Marco Scandella is a very limited palette, and there was something very appealing in trying to find a story in within this narrow space.

Now we get to the crazy part, as if everything so far hasn’t been just absurd. I was writing this in real time. During the playoffs. I was writing this over the five game series between the Wild and the Chicago Blackhawks. There were points where I was writing in the middle of games, during intermissions and commercial breaks. I try not to write in real time, but...I don’t know. This worked surprisingly well.

Normally I don’t write in real time because it causes me stress, but this didn’t happen this time, which is very strange, especially considering how it was playoff hockey and therefore inherently stressful. Writing like this, and immediately turning events into narrative may have actually helped. It stopped me from getting too upset because I had distance as a writer. This story also worked as playoff scrapbook. It’s full of quotes, tweets, news articles, and statistics. All of the sources incorporated into the story are real, all of the photographs included were taken on the date indicated. All of the statistics cited are accurate.

(There isn’t anything inherently interesting about Defenseman Time On Ice, but it’s something I’ve paid attention to all year. It’s probably more interesting as a Wild fan because _Ryan Suter_. He plays all the minutes, because he should, because otherwise the minutes will belong to someone else, like _Justin Falk_ , and that would not be good.)

In conclusion, I had a great time writing/assembling this thing. I hope you have a great time [reading/viewing it](http://www.mediafire.com/view/kuplu3p5r46vf5m/hockey_%2B_weather.pdf). I would love to read more stories written as presentations. I would love to read more stories about the weather in Minnesota. I would love to read more stories about the Wild. If any of these things interest you I would love to talk about it.

ALSO: I was going to use the cool professional power point hosting site that Egan’s story is on, but I couldn’t because my file was too big. However, I didn’t realize this until I had an account, which also meant creating a linkedin profile. I put my industry down as shipbuilding, which is awesome. That said, a list:

The Top 3 Reasons to Ship Jared Spurgeon/Marco Scandella  
1\. Six inch height difference.  
2\. They’re a defensive pairing, and their names already get written like a ship: Spurgeon/Scandella. It has nice alliteration.  
3\. [One time](http://www.startribune.com/sports/wild/136119448.html) the Star Tribune refered to them as bosom buddies. This is the biggest paper in Minnesota people, they’re doing our work for us. _#ActuallyHockeyJournalism_  
4! BONUS! [this goal.](http://video.wild.nhl.com/videocenter/console?catid=0&id=127050)

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Stellarer, who told me to keep writing this, and listened to me talk about it, and who betaed it. Betaing something that includes graphic design choices is amazing, I love you dear. Also thanks to Em who put up with my talking, who always put up with my talking, and who sat through an early version of this presentation even though she doesn't care about hockey.


End file.
